I Guess We Should Have Been More Specific

I wanted a Pomeranian for Christmas, and Beatrix was desperate for a puppy under the tree. It was not all that unlike the last time we were trying to lobby for a dog...

So on Christmas Eve, after people had left, I kept hearing this meowing and was worried one of the cats was trapped. Patrick confirmed that all three were accounted for.

But when Beatrix went up to her room she heard the meowing too, so we went outside and there was a poor, cold, meowing kitty in our neighbor's yard. It was afraid to walk on the snow, but Patrick eventually leaned over the fence and scooped it up, which is when it started to purr. We put it in the guest room with some food and water and a makeshift litter box.

We asked Deb and it was not her cat. Christmas Day we posted him in all the neighborhood sites and lost cat sites we could think of. Today we bought him to the vet to have him scanned, but there was no micro-chip. Even the vet tech called it the "Cat Distribution System."

Patrick walked around the neighborhood to look for "Lost Cat" flyers and even talked to our postman to see if he'd heard anything, but he had not.

We're not sure what the next step is. It's possible that, with Christmas travel, has owner might not even know he's missing yet. I'm reluctant to send him to over-full shelters. Four cats is *probably* too many (especially if I have a chance at that pom). But he's so sweet and cuddly and well-behaved and happy here!

For now we're calling him "Kris Kringle" since he arrived on Christmas Eve (Winston says if he knew Santa was a CAT he would feel very differently about the whole thing.)

Look how sweet he is!